BJP's Tarun Vijay had said, 'If we were racist, would we live with south Indians'.
Former BJP parliamentarian
Tarun Vijay's racist comments on South Indians, for which he apologized on Friday, provoked outrage in parliament today and led to multiple disruptions with the opposition demanding that the government clarify whether it agreed with the outrageous views of its leader.
"India is a secular country," asserted Home Minister Rajnath Singh, adding, "No discrimination will be allowed on caste, creed, religion or colour."
Mr Singh also referred to Tarun Vijay's apology post in which he called his words indefensible and also described himself the adopted son of a Tamil mother.
Last week, on a TV show on the recent attacks on Africans near Delhi, "If we were racist, why would we have the entire south (India)... which is you know, completely Tamil, you know Kerala, you know Karnataka and Andhra. Why do we live with them ...We have blacks, black people around us..."
As soon as parliament began today, the opposition shouted slogans and demanded police action against Mr Vijay.
Raising the comments in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge railed at the government, "This shows your mentality and how your ideology is working. You want to divide India? You want each state assert independence?"
Mr Kharge said after the "insulting and humiliating" statement, it was easy to call it a mistake and say sorry. "He is not an ordinary man. An FIR should be registered against him. His remarks are anti-national and divisive. A case of sedition should be filed against him," he said.
"The government must clarify what action is being taken against this person. Or we have to agitate inside and outside," he declared as Congress members including Sonia Gandhi thumped their desks.
Mr Vijay, in his apology, had tweeted that his choice of words "sounds ridiculous and was very bad."